So I have this nice roller bag from http://www.planeteclipse.com to fit my oversize bogu (hey what can I say? I’m a big guy).

I put the bogu in the bottom half and gi in the top.

Anyways, this is supposed to be a how-to on fixing a zipper, specifically repairing a retainer/retaining box.

About two years after purchasing this bag, the retainer box and slider fell off. The retainer box is at the end of the zipper and keeps the slider from falling off. The box fell off because there was weakness in the tape.

Basically the part of the tape attached to the box became separated from the rest of the tape and the box fell off.

Amazon sells replacement zipper parts. It is important the parts are sized properly. I purchased this kit.

Rather than replacing the whole zipper tape around the bag which would involve sending the bag to a seamstress, I decided to tape the zipper tape back together with this:

These are vinyl tape patches for repair of synthetic fabrics such as on down jackets, inflatables, rain gear, tents. They are self adhesive and can be cut down to size.

The patch was used to repair the zipper tape. The slider was inserted onto the zipper and then the box was attached to the repaired tape.

The replacement box was slid onto the tape and crimped down with a needle nose plier. It took a great deal of effort to do this since the patch would bunch up in the middle. I had to widen the groove in the box and then pinch it down after. The opposite side of the tape was inserted into the slider and the box.

Update (31DEC2018):

Well, it seems the fix is only temporary since the adhesive is not strong enough to keep the frayed parts of the zipper intact for long. I’ve already replaced the tape once.